JavaScript From Null: Video Series
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JavaScript from Null: Video Series

on Dec 4th 2009 with 130 comments
Tutorial Details
  • Subject: JavaScript
  • Estimated Difficulty: Basix
  • Tutorial Format: 29 Minute Screencast
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This entry is part 1 of 7 in the series javascript-from-null

The Full Series


javascript-from-null

Thanks to the wide adoption of libraries like jQuery and Mootools, JavaScript’s popularity has skyrocketed in the last few years. However, in the process, an interesting thing occurred: many newer developers are learning these libraries without taking the time to actually learn about raw JavaScript techniques. What percentage of jQuery users don’t know how to fade out an element with only raw JS? My guess is that it’s much higher than many would think.

If you want to truly understand the library you’re working with, and improve your skill-set, it’s vital that you learn the fundamentals of raw JavaScript.

This screencast series focuses exclusively on JavaScript, and will take you from your first “Hello, World” alert up to more advanced topics.

Catch Up

Chapter 1: Hello, World

Series NavigationJavaScript from Null: Chapter 2»

 
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I'm the editor of Nettuts+, and love making the process of building for the web as easy as possible. Also, I'm finishing up my latest book on Laravel Testing! If you want be friends, say hi on Twitter.  

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  • Evan Riley

    YES! This is exactly what I needed, Sadly I am one of those people who uses JS Libraries (Mootools and jQuery to be exact) and didn’t feel the need to actually learn Raw JS, but now that I think about I do need to learn it, and this will be very helpful.

    • Bartek

      Me too. :) Interesting series (not the first srccst but I hope next episodes will be super-interesting.

      • LuK

        1+ for lase non raw-js learners =/

    • http://twitter.com/xrommelx xRommelx

      this is what i need too, is just amazing

  • http://twitter.com/nickplekhanov Nick Plekhanov

    Oh! Thats awesome. Looking forward to continuing. Thanks Jeff!

  • Alex

    I am just a user of jQuery, I have become reliant on it as its just so simple and to use. The problem is that things like JS bookmarks that you want to start doing cannot use JQ and only JS… Also JavaScrip is very powerful and though I do know some I hope that the video screencast series will go quite in-depth about the raw JS itself. :)
    Thanks Jeff!

  • khaled

    Thank you very much this will be very helpfull

  • http://www.fatlizardmedia.com Juan C Rois

    This is AWESOME !!!!!!!!! Even though I’ve cheated on myself by using JS and PHP frameworks, I’m actively learning raw JS and PHP precisely because I want to know what goes on under the hood.
    Thank you very much Jeff and Nettuts for this series.
    There is only one think I’d ask for, please don’t stop the series half way, like it happened with Code Igniter, however I understand that you guys must be buried in work.
    Thanks again for all the hard work.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Hey Juan – The CodeIgniter series hasn’t stopped. I’m just working on the final project. :)

      • http://nathanledet.com Nathan Ledet

        Looking forward to it!!!

      • Javed Gardezi

        thank you JW!! for not stopping CI-series i was myself really worried that such a good series and stopped at the end :(. If possible please make some announcement about ci-series ie when it will be continued…

        Well i looking forward to it!! and wish you a good luck in finishing the final project.

      • Jesse

        Oooh man… I’m glad to hear the CI series isn’t totally dead! I’ve been so looking forward to the rest of it. It is so helpful to me!

      • http://www.fatlizardmedia.com Juan C Rois

        Awesome! Thanks

    • Carlos

      For those hungry for condeigniter tutorials this site http://shawnmccool.com is starting a series on developing websites with codeigniter.

  • http://twitter.com/HO_BA ihab

    Thanks Jeffrey ,

    This is typically what I’m looking for. I can already write jQuery code to solve most of my problems. but I know I should learn JavaScript to improve my coding style

  • http://twitter.com/aziz_light Aziz Light

    Thanks so much for this! I was hoping you would start this series :)

  • Helen

    Great, Jeff. This is exactly what I have been looking for!

  • http://www.kieranklaassen.com Kieran Klaassen

    thanks!!! this is really helpfull.
    I know most of it, but thos e tiny tips are eye openers!

  • http://rohanko.com Rohan

    Thanks so much Jeff. New to JavaScript and jQuery and really need to start from the basics. This will definitely help me alot!

  • Johny

    Thanks for another New Series Jeffrey.
    Here’s a request for a short top from you.

    How this horizontal sliding id done. (its awesome to see no scroll bar at bottom) ?

    Another thanks in advance.

  • http://matt-bridges.com Matt B

    Perfect! I admit I am one of those who has no clue how to get started in JavaScript (I prefer to work with server side stuff, but a cool user interface is always fun ).

    I have been meaning to start teaching myself the basics, but this is perfect for me. Thanks, Jeff! Your stuff is always great!

  • Andrew

    This is perfect, please continue the series! Learning JavaScript is very important if you want to be a solid JQuery Developer.

  • http://vector.laroouse.com piyanistll

    great post thank nettuts

  • http://www.designfollow.com/ designfollow

    great

    Thank you very much this will be very helpfull

  • micko

    Perfect, just what I”ve been waiting for.

    Back then when I was starting as web developer, I found javascript as a very hard language. It was really annoying to have import entire JS library just to create some animation effect.

    I hope this series will go through creating some common fade and slide functions.

  • Ben

    I don’t like video tutorials. Could you post them in a text format as well as video? I’d really like that.

  • http://www.novicebloggers.com/ Senthil Ramesh

    Well, I will be looking fwd for the next parts as I’m very eager in learning JS.

  • http://davekingsnorth.com Dave

    These series are great. I followed the jQuery series and the wordpress series on themeforest. These are getting watched!

  • Karthik

    Bravo, Jeffrey It’s like Javascript in a nutshell :)

  • http://www.crispytech.com/ saad

    Jeff,M amazed how many things do u mastered?Php,wordpress,javascript.etc

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Hey Saad. Mastered? Not a single one of them, I’m sorry to say. :(

  • http://www.iKreateIt.com Julia Altermann

    Jeff, your timing is perfect! I just started learning the JavaScript basics (or I will, once I get the book for christmas), for the very reason you listed above: I can implement jQuery and the like, but I feel I need to understand the whole concept better.

    As usual, I am looking forward to the next episodes of your video series, I’ve learned so much from you already. Thanks for taking the time and doing this. Highly appreciated.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Thanks, Julia. :) Hope you enjoy it.

  • css

    Hey thanks so much very helpful .Did you recommend a javascript book for absolute beginners ?

  • http://stats.justhost.com/track?c52086a9c93c4169ff93a090885fd20a8 Hamza Oza

    I don’t want to be rude here but it seems envato has a tendency not to finish thier series. Like the wordpress series on themeforeset. The codeigniter series on nettuits so this is just goin to be another have completed series then. I mean, I’d really like to see these series to get finished off istead of being hung on a fine line.

    But that’s what I think.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      @Hamza – The CI series is just temporarily on hold while I complete our final project.

      The WordPress series on ThemeForest seems to have been cut off by its author, Drew Douglass.

      • http://stats.justhost.com/track?c52086a9c93c4169ff93a090885fd20a8 Hamza Oza

        Is there any way for you to find another author. It was a big help not just for my but a lot of other people.

  • Walter

    Hi jeff,
    (Sorry to post this here)

    The link of your screencast : http://net.tutsplus.com/videos/screencasts/codeigniter-from-scratch-day-6-login/ is broken.

    I’d really like to finish that series. Can you restore it, please?

  • http://cmstutorials.org krike

    oh great :D awesome. I was waiting for something like this cause my javascript is not that great :D thanks al ot

  • http://tutsvalley.com Slobodan Kustrimovic

    Considering that a lot of people that will be watching this series already have some basic or good knowledge of jQuery you might also want to make one screencast where you will explain how to make some of the stuff with raw javascript.

    For example:

    RAW – document.getElementById(‘theID’)

    jQuery – $(‘#theID’)

    Basic stuff like that. I believe it will make it easier for them to understand :)

    Great screencast BTW :) Haven’t used raw javascript for more then 6 months :)

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Great point. Will definitely do that. :)

    • http://www.dynamicpalette.com Chris Seckler

      Isn’t that exactly what he did?

      • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
        Author

        I think he was referring to more specific examples.

  • http://www.niram.org Tharique Azeez

    Thank you very much! This is truly an amazing crystal clear video cast with lots of basic things about JavaScript. Love it! I was searching for a better way to to get a variable out of the function and finally you have made my day! Thank you so much!

  • Olly

    Nice Tutorial

    Just thought I’d give a mention for Firebug lite – a cut down version which can be run in any browser.

    http://getfirebug.com/lite.html

  • Praba

    Great stuff, Awaiting for chapter2 and so on. Thanks.

  • Shaun C.

    This is great!! I’m so glad to see you’re back with another series.

    JavaScript was a great choice, please keep it up!

  • Smandou

    Did you give up with the Ci series ? It was very nice, but i hoped that you will gone deeply in the fonctionalities (Ajax, multi-templating…).

    Nicely done anyway !

  • http://twitter.com/leksa leksa

    Waww..
    Really thank you!

    Actually i just a mix and match coder for Jquery and kind of their stuff. But, really,.. i want to learn more about the javascript itself.

    Really appreciate for your gift here Jeff. As always.

    Nice Christmast Gift! :D

  • http://www.seosheffield.org SEO Sheffield

    Got to say i’m guilty of just using jQuery over learning proper Javascript but hopefully we can all learn something from your screencasts.

    Thanks for it and hope to see more in a few weeks :)

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/egyedg Geza

    Excellent tutorial, thank you!

  • http://www.stuudio.sk roarbb

    Thanks :) Good luck in new episodes :)

  • Sam

    I’ve began my javascript tutorial on w3schools, and I have one correciton to this video:

    The semicolon is not needed at the end of the statement. if there is no semicolon, the browser assumes the end of the line is the end of the statement. In fact I use no semicolon in the majority of my scripts because of my familiarity with Ruby.

    I look forward to future videos, and thanks for yet another great screencast series!

    • http://net.tutsplus.com Jeffrey Way

      Though you’re technically correct – it’s considered a very bad practice to omit them. Guys – please chime in for me here. :)

      • http://www.wdonline.com Jeremy McPeak

        Chiming in, and echoing Jeffrey. Valid? Yes. Very bad practice and should be avoided? Yes.

        Not only can it be the source of bugs, but many minifiers require a semi-colon at the end of every statement (other than loops, if-else if-else, etc).

    • http://tutorial-city.net/ Tutorial City

      The problem is that javascript may not insert the semicolon where you want.

    • http:www.paladn.com Chris Kemp

      Always conform to the specs of the language. Good for discipline, good for karma.

  • http://www.ifadey.com iFadey

    wao this is cool!
    love it!

  • leo rapirap

    just watched the video.

    never tried using raw javascript before in my projects BUT
    after watching the screencast, i think it’s essential for developers
    to see what is happening behind the scenes.

    never thought how easy to use firebug until your demonstration.

    will definitely follow this tutorial.

    Thanks Jeff!

  • Tony

    Learning raw javascript has been on the list for some type now, thanks for posting this. Looking forward to future episodes.

  • Lagr Dagrsen

    Very timely indeed!!! Recently “playing” with a couple of Flat file CMS’s, due to the skill levels of clients. Having fallen into the scaffolding of frameworks, one of the features they would like is beyond the scope of the CMS’s, so off too old school we go. Just as was the case with the Code Igniter Series Jeff, ya toss that much appreciated rope to this cantankerous hack. Can’t wait for the rest of this series, and the continuance of the CI

    Keep up the phenomenal offerings and efforts!!! I for one am very greatfull

  • Jaysone

    Hey..good to see another series up..but can anyone tell us what happened to the wordpress for designers series?

  • ShadowAssassin

    Its a shame you guys, because there was a comment on here (I checked yesterday), and it seems to have been deleted…:(

    Leave the comments as they are, everybody is entitled to an opinion…

    On the brighter side…

    …Jeff, you have done it again, another fantastic amazing tutorials made by you…Sometimes I wonder why these tutorials aren’t in the free section, they are good enough.

    I love screencasts, so much easier then text tutorials..

    Thanks alot Jeff…Keep up the amazing work :D

    P.S For Christmas, I should be getting plus :D

  • http://www.ricardofilipe.com Ricardo Magalhães

    Very interesting screencast, I really appreciate your efforts.

    Like many web developers around the world, I’ve been using jQuery to do pretty much anything I want to, but everytime there is a problem or I need something a bit tweaked I get stuck. It’s absolutely important to get to know the very basics of any language, even if we don’t code anything from scratch ourselves. It’s like a mechanic needing to know how a car functions, even though he never actually built a car.

    No one should call themselves a mechanic just because they know how to wash their car – that’s exactly what’s happening today with developing. This screencast was a very good mechanical lesson, I truly hope you make many more like this.

  • Ritwik

    Excellent to show what Javascript can do. What are the topics you are going to cover in next sessions?

  • http://spotdex.com/ David Moreen

    Jeffery this great, all I know how to do in raw javascript are a few alerts. I’m best in jQuery. I’ll be sure to pay attention to this series.

  • http:www.paladn.com Chris Kemp

    Thanks for this. we hired a new guy who is all up on .Net, and we want him to learn Javascript and Jquery so he can be a resource for the web applications we build. You tutorial (s) will be a valuable teaching tool so he can learn and ask intelligent questions without our spending a lot of time walking him through the concepts ourselves. I’d love to see some more of this type, though I’m well aware of how the demands of the business conflicts with the time required to think out and actually write (make) a bgood blog article (video).

    Great job!

  • Byron McCollum

    Why do you put spaces around your text inside a tag?

  • Nykeri Grant

    Thanks Jeff\Nettuts these JS tuts should come in very helpful since i started reading up on it a few days ago

  • http://xsaiddx.0fees.net kosaidpo

    hi dude tnx for your amazin tut , icant wait for the next episodes and please please for me and all people like me(none anglophone) explain slowly cus u gave me that impression like ur signin a rap song :D

    • Usman

      same here :D

      • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
        Author

        Really? That’s interesting. I always get the feeling that I’m going too slowly. :)

      • http://xsaiddx.0fees.net kosaidpo

        hii Jeff
        well you said it you got the feeling , so its just a feeling which might be wrong or true and i personally confirm thats wrong :D
        keep up the good work and we are all behind that screen when Jeff is screencastin
        i love what you do , keep it up

      • Marc

        Fast yes, too fast no. I like the speed. You guys just gotta use the pause button every once in a while.

        Pause + understand = continue :)

        Thanks for teaching Jeff

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